Cartoon Characters Part 3; Skinning Part 4: Trousers

Cartoon Characters Part 3; Skinning Part 3: Shirt and Hands

Cartoon Characters Part 3; Skinning Part 2: Binding

Cartoon Characters Part 3; Skinning Part 1: Creating Joints

Review on Blade Runner

Review on Blade Runner (1982)

Blade Runner

Blade runner is a science fiction film noir and has cyberpunk elements, with bright neon lights and a futuristic run down dystopian feel to it. On its first release the film did not do so well as expressed by Nick Camp in review on BBC.co.uk. 'Ironically "Blade Runner" did not do well on its initial release. The film was burdened by numerous studio impositions, including an inane happy ending and a frankly embarrassing voice-over from Harrison Ford. The film was criticized for its thin story line, gaps in logic, and over reliance on spectacle. Reaction varied between indifference and hostility.' (Camp, 2001) 

Futuristic Los Angeles

Now though the film has been given an overhaul by its director; Ridley Scott and been released as a director's cut, explained by Owen Gleiberman in a review. 'In the new director's cut, there are a few nips and tucks in the ending. The main change, though, is the elimination of that pesky narration. Now maybe audiences and critics alike can discover what a few have been saying for years - that Blade Runner is a singular and enthralling experience. Never mind the plot. From its spectacular opening shot, a hellishly beautiful vision of 21st-century Los Angeles, the movie casts a druggy, hypnotic spell.' (Gleiberman, 1992) As well as scrapping the embarrassing voice over by Ford the film has been enhanced visually with a more clean picture quality and avoided using C.G.I, mentioned by Roger Ebert on Chicago Sun-Times. 'Scott has resisted the temptation to go back and replace analog special effects with new CGI work (which disturbed many fans of George Lucas' "Star Wars") and has kept Douglas Turnbull's virtuoso origonal special effects, while enhancing, restoring, cleaning and scrubbing both visuals and sound so the film reflects a higher technical standard than ever before. It looks so great, you're tempted to say the hell with the story, let's just watch it.' (Ebert, 2007)

Rating;

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Scott Ridley (1982) Blade Runner [Poster] At: http://www.scificool.com/a-remake-of-blade-runner-sure-why-not/blade-runner-movie/ (Accessed on: 27.11.11)

Figure 2. Scott Ridley (1982) Futuristic Los Angeles [Screen cap] At: http://www.scene-stealers.com/columns/1-year-100-movies-97-blade-runner-1982/ (Accessed on: 27.11.11)

Bibliography

Camp, Nick (2001) Movies http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/02/07/blade_runner_1982_review.shtml (Accessed on: 27.11.11)

Ebert, Roger (2007) Blade Runner: The Final Cut  http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071103/REVIEWS08/71103001 (Accessed on: 27.11.11)

Gleiberman, Owen (1992) Blade Runner http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,311946,00.html (Accessed on: 27.11.11)

Character Bible

Character Bible for Space Bikers

Villain Prop Concept

Final

Silhouette

 Rough

Name: The Vortex Vaporinizor

Armaments: Blade, Gatling Gun, Plasma Cannon, Lightning Pulse Blaster.

Description: This highly advanced weapon is a part of Von Waldhar's arm. It is extremely powerful and quite capable of destroying a small space ship. All of its armaments are lethal, more so the Lightning Pulse Blaster, which fires a very accurate blue beam of electrifying particles which vaporizes anything it touches.  

Hero Prop Concept

Final

Silhouette

Rough

Name: Handy Tool Gun (HTG)

Tools: Laser Drill, Rivet Gun, Plasma Saw

Description: This is Rocky's gun which is primarily a tool used in repairing his ship. He also uses it to cut his way into star bases and to sabotage the bad guy's guns and equipment. 

Size Charts

Colour Version

Silhouette Version

Villain Final Concept

Name: General Von Waldhar
Height: 10 Foot
Age: 46
Species: Evolved Alien Condor
Description: General Von Waldhar is in charge of the largest crystal mining space station. He is greedy, nasty and reasonably intelligent. Before he became general he was a savage warrior and has become battle damaged from many fights with fierce creatures, and has even lost a limb in one of these fights. Now he uses his wealth to replace parts of his war torn body with cybernetic implants, making him much more stronger and much more dangerous to those who are willing to risk their lives to steal these precious crystals from the star base.

Villain Face Expressions

Final

Rough

Sidekick Final Concept

Name: Francis Woodruff
Height: 4 Foot
Age: 22
Species: Evolved Alien Quail
Description: Francis hangs out with Rocky and follows him everywhere. He is Rocky's navigator, reading the star charts and directing them to their next destination. Unfortunately he isn't too bright and often gets them both lost and into trouble. Being small has an advantage as he is quite agile and can out run and out maneuver his enemies, which often irritates them. Francis is also punk like in his dress style and features a large pink quiff, which he admires more than anything. He has no space ship and must ride along with Rocky.

Villain Turnaround

Final

Rough

Review on The Maltese Falcon

Review on The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon falls into the category of film Noir which means black film. Film Noir is a dark, fearful and often full of paranoia that often reflects its time period during the 40s. An article on Filmsite.org depicts this. 'A wide range of films reflected the resultant tensions and insecurities of the time period, and counter-balanced the optimism of Hollywood's musicals and comedies. Fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia are readily in noir, reflecting the'chilly' Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was ever-present.' (Filmsite, 2011) Also the hero in film noir is much different than the typical good guy, as the hero is given a darker theme and often goes against the law or twists it in some way, as explained on Filmnoirstudies.com. 'The typical hero of film noir provides a stark contrast to the traditional Hollywood hero - he is alienated from conventional society, he works in opposition to the police or is even pursued by the police, and he is often psychologically wounded and morally ambiguous.' (Filmnoirstudies, 2008)

The MacGuffin

The film also involves something called the Maltese Falcon, a small statue of a black bird. This item is the MacGuffin in the film, an item that everyone is chasing to get, as detailed on tvtropes.org. 'MacGuffin (a.k.a McGuffin or maguffin) is a term for a motivating element in a story that is used to drive the plot. It actually serves no further purpose. It won't pop up again later, it won't explain the ending, it won't actually do anything except possibly distract you while you try to figure out its significance. In some cases, it won't even be shown. It is usually a mysterious package/artifact/superweapon that everyone in the story is chasing.' (Tvtropes.org, 2011)

Rating;

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Huston, John (1941) The Maltese Falcon [Poster] At: http://www.impawards.com/1941/maltese_falcon.html (Accessed on: 22.11.11)

Figure 2. Huston, John (1941) The MacGuffin [Screen cap] At: http://www.totalfilm.com/features/best-worst-detective-movies/best-the-maltese-falcon-1941 (Accessed on: 22.11.11)

Bibliography

Film Noir Studies (2008) The Outer Limits of Film Noir http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/essays/outer_limits.asp (Accessed on: 22.11.11)

Film Site (2011) Film Noir http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html (Accessed on: 22.11.11)

TV Tropes (2011) MacGuffin http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MacGuffin (Accessed on: 22.11.11)

Sidekick Face Expressions

Final

Rough

Sidekick Turnaround

Final

Rough

Hero Final Concept

Name: Rocky Missouri
Height: 6 Foot (7 Foot including hair)
Age: 28
Species: Evolved Alien Bald Eagle
Description: Rocky is all for his people and will fight for a noble cause which is to steal these powerful crystals from a military force who are hording and harvesting them all and give them to those who are in need of them, as well as keeping some to power his own space vehicle. He is a bit of a rebel and doesn't always follow the rules, but he tries his best to make sure no one gets hurt. His dress sense is punk like with a rough and ready look and he is especially fond of his space ship, which he lets no one but himself drive it.

Hero Face Expressions

Final

Rough

Hero Turnaround

Final

Rough

Villain Colour Designs

Silhouette

I like numbers 3,4 and 5. I think number 5 is the better one